Pulp Librarian
@PulpLibrarian • 172,395 subscribers
Old books, movies and music. Keeping Twitter busy since 2014.
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O Fortuna, from Carmina Burana by Carl Orff. The music many movies love! Carmina Burana (Songs from Buria) is a medieval collection of songs, poetry and dramatic texts, discovered in 1803 in the Benedictine monastery of Benediktbeuern. Little is known about the authors but it's assumed the pieces were written by students and theologians travelling through the region. In 1935-36 Carl Orff composed a cantana for 24 of the poems, beginning and ending with O Fortuna. It's been used in many films including Excalibur (1981) and The Doors (1991) as well as for Old Spice adverts in the 1970s. However it wasn't used in The Hunt For Red October (1990): Basil Poledouris composed the music for that, and it does in parts have a similar sound.
Pulp Librarian56,354 views • 17 hours ago
The Sisters of Mercy: Dominion (1988). David Hogan has an eclectic range of pop videos under his belt: everyone from Prince to Kenny Rogers, The Hooters to Sheryl Crow. But it's this one for The Sisters of Mercy that's possibly his most visually arresting. Filmed in Petra and playing on the Indiana Jones idea (or possibly Agatha Christie given the styling) Andrew Eldritch and Patricia Morrison play moody Egyptologists who've read Dune a lot. It's very cinematic and glossy, perfect for MTV but maybe not what Sisters fans were quite expecting. Dominion was the second single from the album Floodland, but did less well in the UK charts than This Corrosion. David Hogan later directed Barb Wire in 1996, as well as being 2nd unit director on Batman Forever.
Pulp Librarian38,826 views • 3 days ago
Dizzy: Vic Reeves and The Wonder Stuff (1991). "Comedy is the new rock and roll" as Dave Cohen declared in 1988, but it was Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer who put it into practice in '91, scoring a UK No.1 with this cover of Tommy Roe's 1969 classic. Vic Reeves Big Night Out had been a surprise hit for Channel 4 in 1990, with the surreal comedy of Vic & Bob quickly becoming a student favourite ('they wouldn't let it lie!'). Building on the success, and on Vic's variety host persona, an album followed. Quite a good one in fact. I Will Cure You had excellent production (Phil Oakey and The Grid are credited amongst others) and mixed cover versions with original tracks and music from Big Night Out. Vic's version of Born Free made it to No. 6, but it was this follow-up track featuring Stourbridge Sound stalwarts The Wonder Stuff that got him the top spot for two weeks in November '91, knocking U2 off the top of the charts. Tony Van den Ende directed the video (he's directed for a huge range of artists including Transvision Vamp, A Flock of Seagulls and The Mission), and if you're wondering about the washing machines in the background - well they're Whirlpools.
Pulp Librarian15,779 views • 1 day ago
Hercules (1983). Lou Ferrigno throws a bear into space. Lou Ferrigno, Ingrid Anderson and Sybil Danning star in this retelling of the Hercules legend, as our hero battles King Minos and his new-fangled 'science' to save Princess Cassiopeia. Ferrigno is all action in this one: beating up bears, smashing up robots and at one point making a chariot fly into space through an Olympic style hammer throw. It's cashing in (a bit) on the hype surrounding Conan the Barbarian the year before and the earlier success of Clash of the Titans. Shot in Italy back to back with The Seven Magnificent Gladiators - a swords and sandals retelling of Seven Samurai also starring Ferrigno and Danning - it's a but rushed and sometimes silly, but it definitely has the wow factor. Director Luigi Cozzi reused a few effects from his earlier film Starcrash in this and you can see how it continues that particular vibe, blending Italian sci-fi with Greco-Roman peplum cinema. It's a Cannon Group movie, so of course it's going to have jaw droppingly improbable scenes, and there's a sequel too if you want more musclebound mythical mayhem.
Pulp Librarian29,180 views • 3 days ago
Mud: Rocket (1974). '74 really was the Year of Mud; two No.1s in the UK (Tiger Feet and Lonely This Christmas bookending the year), a No.2 with The Cat Crept In, and this slightly forgotten one. Rocket was written by the powerhouse duo of Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman (sometimes referred to as Chinnichap) as a fun and cheesy rock 'n' roll / glam mashup, with Les Gray in full Elvis impersonator mode. It only made it to No. 6, but it's a solid foot stomper and a real reminder how the early '70s rock and roll revival was having an impact on a range of acts.
Pulp Librarian137,745 views • 21 days ago
Dschinghis Khan: Dschinghis Khan (1979). The greatest song never to win Eurovision.
Pulp Librarian425,383 views • 2 months ago
Hobitit (1993). The live action miniseries of Lord of the Rings made by Yle TV1 in Finland, directed by Timo Torikka with music by Toni Edelmann. Praised at the time for capturing the spirit of the story, it had to trim out many of the battle scenes to keep to budget and to fit the story into nine 30 minute episodes. The focus is kept firmly on Frodo and Sam's journey.
Pulp Librarian152,220 views • 1 month ago
Levi's jeans: Spaceman (1995). To this day there are still people angry about buying Babylon Zoo's 'Spaceman' on the strength of this advert, only to find out the rest of the song was different to the introduction. It was one of the fastest-selling debut singles in British chart history, shifting 383,000 units in its first week. So if you bought it on the strength of this commercial, well you weren't the only one...
Pulp Librarian66,191 views • 20 days ago
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Babylon Zoo: Spaceman (1996). Originally used for a Levi's jeans ad in 1995 after a rare demo version was played on a Manchester radio station - that's how we rolled in the '90s! This was the only real hit for the Wolverhampton indie rockers when it was released the following year. Top 10 across all of Europe, No 1 in the UK, France and Germany, and then they faded away...
Pulp Librarian329,794 views • 5 months ago